Jerry Garcia Factoids

1. The Grateful Dead performed 2,317 concerts and played in front of 25 million people during the 30 years that the band toured.
   
   
2. As a high school student, Jerry studied art at the California School of Fine Arts in North Beach on weekends and during summer sessions.
   
   
3. Jerry's full name was Jerone John Garcia - named after the great Broadway musical composer Jerome Kern.
   
   
4. Jerry was surrounded by music as a child; his mother listened to opera, his father was a professional musician, and when his family got together, they would have sing-alongs.
   
   
5. Jerry was missing the middle finger of his right hand - his brother accidentally chopped it off splitting wood.
   
   
6. His third grade teacher encourage Jerry to draw pictures, paint murals, and make ceramics.
   
   
7. Having asthma as a child, Jerry spent a lot of his time in bed reading.
   
   
8. Jerry was an avid collector of comic books.
   
   
9. Ben and Jerry's ice Cream named a flavor, "Cherry Garcia", after him - the first ice cream flavor to be named after a musical legend.
   
   
10. In Jerry's first gig, his band won a contest and got to record a song. They chose Bill Doggett's "Raunchy".
    
    
11. Jerry enlisted in the Army at the age of 17, but was dishonorably discharged just nine months later.
    
    
12. Jerry's first paying gig came with his future songwriting partner, Robert Hunter. Named "Bob and Jerry", each earned five dollars.
    
    
13. Early in his life, Jerry was torn between music and art, but realized he couldn't concentrate on two art forms at once. He chose music, because he enjoyed the interaction and creativity of others working together.
    
    
14. Some of his early influences were Joan Baez and the New Lost City Ramblers.
    
    
15. Garcia loved to play the five-string banjo, which inspired him to organize a bluegrass band in 1962 - the Hart Valley Drifters, later called the Wildwood Boys.
    
    
16. In the spring of 1963, Jerry and Sarah Ruppenthal performed as "Jerry and Sarah", playing acoustic music from the 1920's and 1930's. Later that year, Sarah became Jerry's first wife.
    
    
17. Jerry performed in several groups that only existed for a gig or two: the Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers, the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, the Wildwood Boys, and the Black Mountain Boys.
    
    
18. Garcia met Bob Weir and decided to assemble a jug band - Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions - featuring instruments such as the jug, washtub bass, harmonica, washboard and the kazoo.
    
    
19. Jerry and Mother McCree's took their music in a different direction. They started using electric instruments, and then changed the name of their group to the Warlocks.
    
    
20. Jerry didn't read musical notes; rather he improvised by playing by ear and by feel.
    
    
21. The Warlocks, realizing that there already was a band playing under that same name, decided to change it. After numerous names that were no good, Jerry got a dictionary, opened it, and came across the words grateful dead.
    
    
22. Jerry's dad, Jose Ramon Garcia, emigrated from Spain in 1919.
    
    
23. Jerry, along with the likes of Janis Joplin, became known as one of the originators of the "San Francisco sound.'
    
    
24. Garcia often would develop intense themes in the middle of songs, making this improvisational style of playing the Grateful Dead's trademark.
    
    
25. Garcia produced Jefferson Airplane's second album, Surrealistic Pillow, but only got credit as being a spiritual advisor.
    
    
26. Jerry earned the nickname "Captain Trips" because of his interest in LSD excursions.
    
    
27. Garcia's love for bluegrass and old-time music led him to form a number of side groups over the years while playing in the Grateful Dead.
    
    
28. Garcia was not happy with both his and the Dead's performance at Woodstock, calling it a disappointment.
    
    
29. Jerry started performing in a country-western band called the New Riders of the Purple Sage - the New Riders even opened for the Grateful Dead for a while.
    
    
30. Jerry loved to play several types of music, including folk, bluegrass, country, rock n roll and acid rock.
    
    
31. Jerry played all the instruments except the drums for his first solo album, titled Garcia.
    
    
32. Jerry's second album was also titled Garcia, but later became known as Compliments of Garcia because there was a promotional sticker that said "Compliments of" on the cover.
    
    
33. The Jerry Garcia Band was his second longest-lived music group - the Grateful Dead was the first.
    
    
34. Having a strong passion for the visual aspect of art, Jerry helped create The Grateful Dead Movie, working on the soundtrack and editing.
    
    
35. Jerry's second wife, Carolyn Adams, was nicknamed Mountain Girl.
    
    
36. Born on August 1,1942, Jerry was his parents' second and final child.
    
    
37. Garcia was selected as the Bay Area Musician of the Year in 1980 through a readers' poll in Bay Area Music magazine.
    
    
38. Jerry collaborated with members of Saturday Night Live and developed skits around Grateful Dead folklore, including a bit entitled "Jerry's Kids."
    
    
39. Garcia helped to set up a foundation to help support various charities, the Rex Foundation, which made contributions to numerous social and environmental causes in need.
    
    
40. Garcia was once given an ultimatum by the Grateful Dead - to choose between the band and drugs.
    
    
41. Sting, the lead singer from the rock group Police, called Garcia, "Father Christmas."
    
    
42. Jerry and the Dead played before more people and played more years than any other music combo in history.
    
    
43. Vice-President Al Gore gave Garcia a personal tour of the White House.
    
    
44. One of Jerry's favorite pastimes was scuba diving.
    
    
45. Jerry has four children - all daughters.
    
    
46. Jerry played lead guitar and sang vocals for the Grateful Dead.
    
    
47. The Warlocks name was taken from an Egyptian prayer Garcia discovered in a dictionary.
    
    
48. Jerry's parents owned a bar in San Francisco -The Four Hundred Club, named for its location, 400 First Street.
    
    
49. Jerry earned three merit badges in the Boy Scouts: for knot tying, compass reading, and life-saving.
    
    
50. Tiff was the nickname Jerry called his older brother Clifford.
    
    
51. Jerry was court-martialed twice while in the Army.
    
    
52. Jerry's mother, Ruth Garcia, was a registered nurse.
    
    
53. Jerry played several instruments including the saxophone, piano, banjo and guitar.
    
    
54. One of Jerry's first jobs was picking apricots and beans in a local field.
    
    
55. One person Jerry wanted to play with was the legendary Bill Monroe, but he never got the chance.
    
    
56. Jerry's mother really wanted Jerry to be a girl; she already had one boy and wanted a daughter.
    
    
57. Garcia became a regular on the radio broadcast of The Midnight Special, a folk music show in Berkley, California.
    
    
58. Jerry had built up a repertoire of bluegrass tunes, ballads, mountain tunes, rags, and country blues that he performed on the five-string banjo.
    
    
59. After seeing the Beatles film A Hard Days Night, Jerry was inspired to transform his jug band into a rock band.
    
    
60. The first gig for the Warlocks was at Magoo's Pizza Parlor.
    
    
61. Jerry would practice at any location he could find, sometimes up to ten hours a day.
    
    
62. Jerry's close friend Ken Kesey wrote the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
    
    
63. Jerry got his first piece of national press in Sing Out magazine.
    
    
64. In 1966, the first Grateful Dead record was released -a 45 of "Stealin'." On the flip side was "Don't Ease Me In."
    
    
65. In 1989 Garcia testified about the plight of the rainforests at the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
    
    
66. Garcia was a fan of surreal art; some of his influences were Max Ernst and Paul KIee.
    
    
67. The album Deadicated, which featured various bands covering Grateful Dead tunes, was a tribute to the long-time team of Jerry Garcia and Bob Hunter.
    
    
68. At a sold-out show on Garcia's 50th birthday, a fan distributed paper masks with Garcia's face and the crowd attempted to sing "Happy Birthday."
    
    
69. Jerry married his third wife, Deborah Koons, on Valentine's Day, 1994.
    
    
70. Jerry considered himself one of the best banjo players in America.
    
    
71. Half of Jerry's remains were scattered in the Ganges River in India, a country Jerry had never visited. The second half of Jerry's remains were scattered beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.
    
    
72. Jerry performed in several groups that only existed for a gig or two: the Thunder Mountain Tub Thumpers, the Sleepy Hollow Hog Stompers, the Wildwood Boys, and the Black Mountain Boys.
    
    
73. Garcia met Bob Weir and decided to assemble a jug band - Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions - featuring instruments such as the jug, washtub bass, harmonica, washboard and the kazoo.
    
    
74. Jerry and Mother McCree's took their music in a different direction. They started using electric instruments, and then changed the name of their group to the Warlocks.
    
    
75. Jerry didn't read musical notes; rather he improvised by playing by ear and by feel.
    
    
76. The Warlocks, realizing that there already was a band playing under that same name, decided to change it. After numerous names that were no good, Jerry got a dictionary, opened it, and came across the words grateful dead.
    
    
77. Jerry's dad, Jose Ramon Garcia, emigrated from Spain in 1919.
    
    
78. Jerry, along with the likes of Janis Joplin, became known as one of the originators of the "San Francisco sound."
    
    
79. Garcia often would develop intense themes in the middle of songs, making this improvisational style of playing the Grateful Dead's trademark.
    
    
80. Garcia produced Jefferson Airplane's second album, Surrealistic Pillow, but only got credit as being a spiritual advisor.
    
    
81. Jerry earned the nickname "Captain Trips" because of his interest in LSD excursions.
    
    
82. Garcia's love for bluegrass and old-time music led him to form a number of side groups over the years while playing in the Grateful Dead.
    
    
83. Garcia was not happy with both his and the Dead's performance at Woodstock, calling it a disappointment.
    
    
84. Jerry started performing in a country-western band called the New Riders of the Purple Sage - the New Riders even opened for the Grateful Dead for a while.
    
    
85. Jerry loved to play several types of music, including folk, bluegrass, country, rock 'n' roll and acid rock.
    
    
86. Jerry played all the instruments except the drums for his first solo album, titled Garcia.
    
    
87. Jerry's second album was also titled Garcia, but later became known as Compliments of Garcia because there was a promotional sticker that said "Compliments of" on the cover.
    
    
88. The Jerry Garcia Band was his second longest-lived music group - the Grateful Dead was the first.
    
    
89. Having a strong passion for the visual aspect of art, Jerry helped create The Grateful Dead Movie, working on the soundtrack and editing.
    
    
90. Jerry's second wife, Carolyn Adams, was nicknamed Mountain Girl.
    
    
91. Born on August 1,1942, Jerry was his parents' second and final child.
    
    
92. Garcia was selected as the Bay Area Musician of the Year in 1980 through a readers' poll in Bay Area Music magazine.
    
    
93. Jerry collaborated with members of Saturday Night Live and developed skits around Grateful Dead folklore, including a bit entitled "Jerry's Kids."
    
    
94. Garcia helped to set up a foundation to help support various charities, the Rex Foundation, which made contributions to numerous social and environmental causes in need.
    
    
95. Garcia was once given an ultimatum by the Grateful Dead - to choose between the band and drugs.

Grateful Dead Links